As college campus protests against Israel rage on, lawmakers have scratched their heads trying to make sense of it all. In an exclusive interview with The Floridian, Senator Marco Rubio (R) questioned the idea of glamorizing "campus protestors," instead calling them "trespassers" and "vandals."
In recent weeks, university campuses have been overtaken by protestors, chanting "From the River to the Sea" and calling on their respective universities to divest funds from efforts tied to Israel. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has denounced the chants and the protests, calling them anti-Semitic as well as calling on the universities to take control of the situation.
Supporters of the protests have further emboldened the cause, accusing Israel of taking part in a genocide, calling detractors 'anti-Palestinians, and questioning lawmakers for condemning "mostly peaceful" protests.
Senator Rubio, noting that this is a prime opportunity for misinformation to run rampant, is refuting the claim that the protests are "mostly peaceful" and attempting to clarify concerns regarding the war between Israel and Hamas.
“I’m not anti-Palestinian… I’m anti-Hamas and anti-Hezbollah, and I’m anti-Fata, and I’m anti these groups that give cash rewards to what they call martyrs, and I call terrorists. People that blow up buses and target civilians and rape and murder," Senator Rubio expressed.
“In America, we have people that line up behind these people because they view Israel as an extension of America, a colonial power."
In reference to the protests that have occurred on university campuses, Senator Rubio believes that the college campus "agitators" are simple criminals.
“These are not campus protestors, these are campus rioters. These are trespassers. These are vandals. These are violent antisemites. And, to go out there, saying, ‘well, these people are mostly peaceful,’ no, they’re not. When you break into a building, when you try to take the janitor’s hostage, when you physically block Jewish students from attending class, when you vandalize property – these are all crimes," added Rubio. “There are people that are gonna serve 10, 15 years in jail for doing that in the Capitol of the United States, but these people get to do it, and nothing happens. I think they’re arrested. They’re probably not gonna be prosecuted.”
